Two Polish Cops Cry As They Watch Film Of Slain Priest

January 26, 1985|United Press International.

TORUN, POLAND — Tears streamed down the faces of two secret police officers Friday in the murder trial of a pro-Solidarity priest as they watched a film of the cleric`s body being dragged from a reservoir.

Lts. Waldemar Chmielewski and Leszek Pekala, accused with a police captain of kidnapping, beating and killing the Rev. Jerzy Popieluszko, wept as the court watched the police film of the priest`s bound body being lifted from the reservoir where he had been dumped.

Chmielewski, who has suffered from a nervous facial twitch since the trial began Dec. 27, sat slumped in the dock shaking with sobs, his face buried in his hands. Pekala wept and hung his head down to avoid looking at the two television screens in the courtroom.

The two lieutenants and Capt. Grzegorz Piotrowski are charged with the Oct. 19 slaying of Popieluszko, an ardent supporter of the outlawed Solidarity union. The priest`s body was retrieved from the reservoir on the Vistula River near here Oct. 31.

Secret police Col. Adam Pietruszka is charged with complicity but has pleaded not guilty. Both Piotrowski and Pietruszka refused to look at the film Friday, staring at a blank wall. All four face possible death sentences.

The film showed the body, clad in mud-smeared priest robes, being lifted in a net the night of Oct. 30.

It showed the priest`s blackened, bruised face as commentary described how the priest had been bound with a rope and gagged before he was thrown into the water.

The film showed the priest`s body being searched, and a group of police officers surrounding the corpse laughing.

A defense lawyer explained a calling card was found in the priest`s clothing that bore an address different than that of his home. This amused the officers because they assumed it confirmed reports Popieluszko kept a secret residence and a mistress, the lawyer said.

Also played in court was a police recording of Chmielewski as he confessed to the crime.